The opening of CLYMB, the world's biggest wind tunnel (and climbing gym) in Abu Dhabi, created quite a media stir. A promotional campaign seems to touch on the essence of indoor skydiving (and climbing): the "Great Outdoors" are even greater indoors.
There was great formality in the official opening of CLYMB, the indoor skydiving and climbing facility built on a Pharaonic scale on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. H.H. Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office, inaugurated CLYMB with a short speech.
There was entertainment, too, and by top-billing stars: a showcase by Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian skydiver of Stratos fame, and an impressive performance by indoor skydiving champions Kyra Poh from Singapore and Maja Kuczynska from Poland. Climbing champion Sasha DiGiulian from the USA laid the first climbing chalk marks as she scaled the world’s tallest indoor climbing wall.
It was a 45-second promotional clip, "Say Hello to the Great Indoors," that had all the laughs. Taking training indoors can make things easier at certain points in one's sporting career. But can it substitute for the real thing?